In which guests solve the mystery of the park, encounter a figure that’s been guiding them the whole time and come to terms with life and death.
Hello all,
This year I’ll be, over the span of the next thirteen days, describing a Halloween-themed amusement park that I got to develop with Surena Marie, for fun, specifically for 13 Days.
As a big old imagineering nerd, this is a dream project and I’m so excited to share it with you all. Please excuse the shoddy sketches that accompany the overly written descriptions.
Enjoy.
Image by Mabel Amber, who will one day from Pixabay
It’s not easy to match the X on the map at first. The wall is covered in vines and shrubbery. But eventually a glint of some polished material will catch a watchful eye, greenery will be moved and a plaque will be revealed.
Not the resting place of Madeleine Gossamer. But the damn closest she’ll get.
So it’s all lead to this. A lone plaque hidden behind natural growth, seemingly lost to time.
“You found it,” calls out a voice. And guests will spin around to meet eyes with a woman, tall and strong, a serene and yet mischievous smile upon her face. Her cheeks might have been rosy at one point. But now they’re translucent. As is the rest of her, including her turn of the century garb. She floats towards the guests, with not an ounce of menace in her stride.
“And you found me, I suppose. It’s a pleasure to meet you. I’m Madeleine Gossamer, as I’m sure you’ve surmised. And that right there is a little gift presented to me by the wondrous creatures of this spectacular place. I’d love to tell you all about it if you have the time. Come, there’s a bench near a beautiful little fountain in this secret garden, just over there.”
The adventurer will take guests over to the bench and sit them down to talk about her history, the history of the park, and how the two became intertwined.
It first came to her during her many travels, the story of a place where the veil was thin. Wanderers would find themselves in a land unlike any they’ve ever seen, with walking pumpkins and cordial bats and beasts cooking delicious concoctions in swamp pools.
She made it her mission to test this myth, to discover if the legend itself was real or not. And when she narrowed down the possible places, when she stumbled upon the veil herself, when she crossed over and entered the place where all of Halloween comes from, the beating and breathing heart of autumn, she knew she had to protect it.
So she bought the land and built a manor. Or at least what would seem like a manor from the road. When in fact it was simply a facade to hide the veil.
Just beyond the wall, she began to explore this space. But the more time she spent there, the more she became detached from the outside world, the world she knew and hailed from. And in her detachment, her physical form had started to fade.
It became difficult for her to interact with objects when the fading became too strong. She would have to pass back through the veil and take in the air of her world. The longer she spent past the veil, she longer she’d have to spend back in her home. And as the periods of time grew longer, from days to weeks to months to seasons between visits, she became resentful of the times she had to spend away from the magic and mystery of what lay beyond the veil.
So she set out to develop a manner in which to exist in the magic permanently. She constructed the facade of a castle behind which she could conduct experiments, toying with energy and matter. Soon enough she was able to cast a bubble in which she could exist. But it only extended just outside the castle facade, not further.
And even with that, it did not completely prevent the effects of spending time past the veil, it just slowed them all down.
And with all that time spent on her experiments, she had to face a choice: fade completely into the world of autumn or leave and never return.
She made her decision.
At first she thought nothing of it. But then she remembered breaking a twig earlier that day. She hadn’t meant to. It was by accident. And it had vexed her at the time, a moment of minor damage. She knew she’d get over it.
But then she didn’t.
So she gave it more time.
And she still didn’t forget about the stick. It was in her mind, how she’d accidentally stepped on it. And she couldn’t shake it, the feeling, that splinter of regret, and it preoccupied her mind. Why was she cemented in that moment, the last interaction she had had with anything of the physical world on the outside of the veil?
“That’s when it occurred to me,” she’ll explain to guests. “I had faded from the world of the living. Which is not to say that I was dead, but that I was not alive. To be alive is to let time pass through you and change you. And heal you. Which I no longer can do. Moments are permanent for me. This season is permanent for me. For you it will pass. For you, this land will be behind you and you will leave this magic. But promise me, you will not take that in as bad fortune.”
“It is a blessing to miss things.”
“The seasons exist for a reason. And it’s your duty to move through them. To observe them. Respect them. And let them go. Because there’s so much ahead of you. And for all the difficulties you face, there’s so much wonder you have yet to bask in.”
She’ll tell guests they can stay in the park as long as they’d like, just as long as they don’t stay for forever. As long as they return to their lives. But when they return, to return with everything they’ve felt here. Where autumn is permanent. Where Halloween can be found around every corner.
And whether it’s now or hours or days later, guests will realize that it is truly time to return.
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